About the PHA
The Planetary Health Alliance is a growing consortium of over 400 universities, non-governmental organizations, research institutes, and government entities from 60+ countries around the world committed to understanding and addressing the impacts of global environmental change on human health and wellbeing.
In 2015, the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission on Planetary Health published its report “Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch" in The Lancet. In order to build the knowledge base, expertise, and policies needed for addressing the challenges highlighted in this report, the field of planetary health has been growing very quickly with the proliferation of new journals, degree programs, courses, institutes, and national and multilateral initiatives. As the central organization at the heart of this global field, the PHA brings together over 400 organizations from over 60 countries — more than half from low- and middle-income countries — to support the rapid growth of this transdisciplinary, solutions-oriented field.
The PHA supports the dissemination of new research, the development and curation of foundational education materials, and the bringing together of communities of practice around the world. It also helps to integrate Planetary Health into the global health and human development communities and mainstream the field’s new insights and frameworks into the domains of policymaking, the private sector, and the public. It seeks to mobilize the global health and human development communities, private sector, and civil society to recognize that the Earth Crisis represents an urgent humanitarian crisis and to build an activated global constituency committed to rapid structural shifts in how we live in order to reduce our ecological footprint and secure a livable future for humanity and the rest of life on Earth.
Since November 2023, the secretariat of the PHA is based at Johns Hopkins University with the Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health. This connection to, and support from, a world-class university in the field of global health and a location in Washington, DC dramatically expands the Alliance’s ability to achieve its core mission: helping to catalyze the global field of Planetary Health and mainstream its insights and frameworks into the realm of action and decision making. The PHA is supported by a Steering Committee and an Advisory Board, all made up of international experts and Planetary Health leaders.
Our Mission, Vision, and Values
Our Vision
A world where all people thrive by protecting and regenerating Earth’s natural systems for generations to come.
Our Mission
To promote, mobilize, and lead an inclusive, transdisciplinary field of Planetary Health and its diverse science, stories, solutions, and communities to achieve the Great Transition, a comprehensive shift in how human beings interact with each other and Nature.
To accomplish our mission, we:
Encourage and empower a diverse global Planetary Health community that crosses sectors, disciplines, generations, worldviews, and geographies;
Advance Planetary Health understanding by convening knowledge holders as well as curating, synthesizing, and disseminating evidence to inform and activate the Planetary Health community and the broader society.
Facilitate the education and training of current and next generation Planetary Health practitioners through the development and curation of open-access resources, mentorship and leadership opportunities, and programs from primary to university levels.
Mainstream Planetary Health science, stories and solutions through broad public outreach and direct engagement with civil society, private sector, general public and governments;
Promote actionable steps that individuals and society can take to advocate for and achieve progress toward Planetary Health.
Our Values
Hope: Every dimension of human activity is rich with solutions that can help bring humanity back into balance with our natural systems. Despite the challenges, we are hopeful that, collectively, we will find the resolve to implement those solutions to achieve the Great Transition.
Urgency: We are a community forged in urgency. With one generation to transform society into balance with Earth’s natural systems, we remain aspirational while recognizing time is of the essence.
Science-Driven Innovation: Planetary Health innovation is supported by the rigorous generation and dissemination of scientific evidence about the connections between human wellbeing and the state of our natural systems. We are committed to supporting the growth of that knowledge, curating and synthesizing it for our community, and disseminating it to policymakers, movement builders, the private sector and the general public.
Justice, Equity, and Compassion: The health burden of degraded natural systems disproportionately affects future generations and people with the fewest resources who are often least responsible for environmental changes. This is deeply unfair and mirrors vast existing disparities and structural inequities worldwide. We hold that justice, equity, and compassion must be the driving forces behind a future of planetary health for all.
Partnership and Inclusivity: We strive to form lasting partnerships marked by deep respect and interdependence within our communities and in our relationships between people and nature. We are a diverse community that is transdisciplinary, multicultural, and intergenerational. All voices must be at the table to share ideas, explore different perspectives, and collaborate to enable all people to act as changemakers.
Humility: We recognize that we do not have all the answers and that achieving the Great Transition will require knowledge from many traditions and actors with a multitude of strengths and perspectives. We are facilitators and connectors, remaining true to our mission while constantly reflecting on our work, biases, and place in nature.
Our Members
Planetary Health Alliance members consist of universities, research institutes, non-governmental organizations, and government entities around the world who are on the cutting-edge of Planetary Health. We invite new member institutions to join the PHA based on the relevance of their work to Planetary Health, an existing record of success, and their demonstration of a commitment to ongoing collaboration in Planetary Health. Members have the opportunity to formally participate in the PHA’s governance, helping inform its strategy and decide how the PHA will externally represent itself as a consortium. Join us.
Planetary Health Alliance members consist of universities, research institutes, non-governmental organizations, and government entities around the world who are on the cutting-edge of Planetary Health. We invite new member institutions to join the PHA based on the relevance of their work to Planetary Health, an existing record of success, and their demonstration of a commitment to ongoing collaboration in Planetary Health. Members have the opportunity to formally participate in the PHA’s governance, helping inform its strategy and decide how the PHA will externally represent itself as a consortium. Join us.